This invention relates to a permanently locking ring binder for loose-leaf papers.
The common ring binder has a metal shell containing a pair of hinged plates, each supporting a number of semi-circular ring segments that protrude through or around the shell. The plates can be toggled, by manipulating either the rings or a release lever, between a closed configuration in which the ends of the ring segments meet, and an open position where the ends of the rings are spaced apart, permitting papers that have been inserted to be removed. The ability to toggle between open and closed configurations repeatedly is normally a requirement, and certainly the great advantage of this type of binder.
Sometimes, however, papers ought not to be removed from ring binders. An example is at a sales counter catalog binder, where the value of catalogs in a binder is diminished if any papers (e.g., price lists) are removed from the binder. People are won't to borrow papers for various reasons; the papers may then be lost or improperly refilled, notwithstanding the good intentions of the borrower. Archival collections would also benefit from permanently locking binders.
It would therefore be beneficial to have a binder which could be permanently locked to prevent removal of papers from the binder.